An introduction to the French art of baking bread--including
ingredient selection, starter cultivation, and bread-making
techniques--with more than 100 recipes
The quintessential staple of French cuisine is the humble baguette, but
the country's bread-baking tradition--along with variations assimilated
from other world cultures--offers a vast repertoire. With an
introduction to the history of French bread, guidelines to help the home
baker select the right ingredients--grain and flour varieties, water,
salt, and starter--this book details the step-by-step techniques and
fundamentals of bread making: from feeding the starter, kneading and
preparing the dough, and baking, to more than 100 recipes.
Eighteen expert bakers and pastry chefs share the sweet and savory
recipes that have forged the French bakery's enviable reputation--from
round pain de campagne or olive and oregano bread to regional breads
like fougasse or the Basque talos. A new generation of chefs have
developed original creations such as black baguette with sesame, matcha
tea-rolled bread, buckwheat-and-seaweed galettes, and honey, fig, and
hazelnut rye. A chapter on traditional breads from all around the world,
such as pita, focaccia, bagels, Georgian khachapuri, and Norwegian polar
bread are reinterpreted in the French style. Recipes include pains
surprise, croque monsieur, onion soup with cheese croutons, and desserts
such as pain perdu and kouign-amann. For each recipe, pictograms
indicate the level of difficulty, time required, type of starter, and
whether a recipe is gluten-free.
